the hides of elk and larger animals in the construction of their tepees.
The folklore and mythology of the Oregon Indians contains a veritable "key" to the fauna of the State. Their gods and demigods, their spirits of good and evil, took on the forms of birds and beasts, while their own origin was usually explained by naming some tribe of animals as their ancestors. The animal people, they said, were here first, before there were any real people.
The birds were always a source of wonder to the red men because of their musical songs and their ability to soar into the skyey regions where dwell the supernatural beings. The eagle was regarded with veneration and was the chief war symbol. The fierce electric storms raging on the high peaks were personified as incarnations of the mysterious "thunder bird." Bluejay was a mischievous, impish deity among the Chinooks. He was the buffoon of the gods, always playing pranks on others and as often as not becoming the victim of his own folly.
The chief animal deity of the Columbia tribes, however, was the coyote. He was the most important because when he was put to work by the chief Supernatural Being, he did more than any of the other animals to make the world a fit place in which to live.
NATURAL RESOURCES AND THEIR CONSERVATION
The fur of wild animals was the first natural resource of Oregon to be utilized by white men. It was the fur trade that brought this northwest coast region to the attention of the world. A hundred years ago beavers were abundant in every creek, river, and lake in the state. In 1812 it is said that a small group from Fort Astoria returned to the post after a twenty-day expedition with "450 skins of beaver and other animals of the furry tribe." As late as 1860 a traveler on the headwaters of the Deschutes reported that "every stream thronged with beaver."
Although fur was the first natural resource of Oregon it is by no means its most prominent, but the fur trade is still a stable part of the state's industry. Oregon is a green land of forests and grassy wilderness teeming with wild life; a land of rich-soiled valleys maturing to golden harvests; a land of minerals; of streams that hold a vast potential water power; of timbered areas immensely valuable for lumber.
Agricultural lands are the most important on the list of Oregon's many natural resources. Of the state's total land area of 61,188,489
